business briefs
UNITED AIRCRAFT EYES CZECH AIRFRAMER LET
TURBOPROPS Russia's United Aircraft may supplement its domestic production with a shares-only acquisition of a controlling stake in the Czech manufacturer Let Aircraft, which makes L-410 regional turboprops that typically seat 15-19 passengers and have a baseline price of €2.4 million ($2.4 million). The 51% stake would be bought from Ural Mining and Metallurgical, which acquired it last year. UAC chief executive Andrei Kozitsin says the Russian regional airline market "is virtually untapped [and] we regard the marketing and production of aircraft with capacity of up to 20 passengers as quite a promising area of activity."
LEASE FIRM TROUBLES THREATEN BACKLOG
FINANCE Lessors that are troubled by issues affecting parent financial firms or are in difficulties themselves account for about a quarter of the order backlog - more than 600 aircraft - at Airbus and Boeing, according to an analysis of the order books at 30 June by Flightglobal's Commercial Aviation Online. The two largest troubled lessors are International Lease Finance and CIT Aerospace, with 128 and 107 orders respectively; both risk bankruptcy over crises at their parents, the insurer AIG and CIT Group.
ZERO RATE PARTS IMPORT DUTY made PERMANENT
TAXES Russia is making permanent the temporary zero rate of import duty on certain parts for civil aircraft that it introduced in December 2008. Affected are hydro-pneumatic batteries, thrust reverse mechanical drives, moisturisers and driers, non-electric starter motors, pneumatic starters and foreign aircraft trainers.
SAMARA MOVE TO EASE MAINTENANCE HASSLE
MAINTENANCE Israel's Bedek Aviation Group and a group of Russian partners are to establish a maintenance centre for Western-built and Russian aircraft types at Samara's Kurumoch airport. The partners include Samara-based airframer Aviakor and Kurumoch airport, which says most Russian carriers have fleets "dominated" by foreign-built types that must often be serviced abroad.
SOFT AFTERMARKET SPARKS PROFIT WARNING
SERVICES Aerospace industry services provider AAR has warned that its results for the first quarter ending 31 August will be below its expectations due to lower sales and gross margin as struggling airlines further reduce inventory levels and maintenance visits. "We had been expecting a pick-up in our parts business in August, but that has not materialised," says chief executive David Storch.
VIRGIN EDGES CLOSER TO NIGERIA EXIT
AIRLINES Virgin Nigeria has signed a technical services agreement with Ethiopian Airlines covering training, Boeing 737-300 maintenance and resource pooling. The deal effectively ends the technical partnership between Virgin Nigeria and Virgin Atlantic and is a further stage in the progressive winding-down of the UK carrier's association with its Lagos partner. Virgin Atlantic intends to sell its 49% holding and withdraw permission to use Virgin branding.
MB AEROSPACE ABANDONS NUCLEAR OPTION
DIVESTMENT MB Aerospace Holdings has completed the £5.25 million ($8.5 million) sale of its nuclear division MB Faber to James Fisher & Sons. The deal leaves Lanarkshire-based MB focused on its core businesses of supply chain management and the manufacture of aeroengine components and defence launch systems.
Source: Flight International
